On August 15 the Venezuelan people turned out in their millions across Venezuela and at their country's consulates around the world to cast their ballots in a recall referendum without precedent in Latin America. In the end President Hugo Chávez was retained by a 58 to 42 percent margin, which was in turn a major political defeat for US President George W. Bush, who through the National Endowment for Democracy has funded Chávez's opponents. The Venezuelan electorate was sharply divided, with wealthy neighborhoods in Caracas voting nearly unanimously to recall Chávez and the slums backing the president by margins that were almost as lopsided. In a country where nearly 80 percent of the people live in poverty, that polarization was enough to keep the president and his "Bolivarian Revolution" on track and in office.
Here in Panama, where many of the Venezuelans who registered to vote at the consulate work in the financial and commercial sectors, the vote went against Chávez by a 103 to 10 margin, with one spoiled ballot.
The failure of this latest effort to oust Chávez is likely to affect all of Latin America and the Caribbean, by weakening US political influence in the region and strengthening the movement for a South American-based alternative to Washington's model for a Free Trade Area of the Americas.
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